An Eventful Day
by The Atheists Daughter
Summary: All was going well for Tom Paris, until the helm blew up. Based off the Deep Space Nine episode 'Distant Voices' but Tom Paris style.
1. Chapter 1

Tom Paris was having a bad day. It had all started during his first shift on the bridge. He had just got up to walk over to Harry's console when the con surged and blew up.

Even though it was a close call, it was still pretty embarrassing. Everyone Voyager had since then been joking that the 'con' had a 'conscious' and because he walked away it had a meltdown.

The second stroke of bad luck was when the doctors holographic emitters blew up, leaving him in charge of the sick bay for half the morning.

'"It seems Voyager doesn't like you anymore! Everything you go near blows up!" Tom knew Harry was joking when he said this but the thought seemed very plausible.

The third run in for the day was when he was told by Captain Janeway that until the con was fixed and in working order Voyager wasn't going anywhere. All in all, that equalled in Tom not being able to do what he loved most, earning in him gaining more shifts in sick bay with the doctor and ultimately (mainly because of the doctor), less time for being with Be'lanna.

Fourth and final, he was on his lunch break and in the holodeck when the entire grid shut down. Because no one had actually noticed (everyone was mainly focusing on the con) he was in there, he had to pry open the doors, which was very difficult, even with handles that could attach and was late for his second (really meant to be his first) shift in sick bay, resulting him in gaining an extra hour at the end of the shift.

* * *

"I told you before Harry, if you want to aim for the good-looking women you can't act cute in front of them." Tom was now again talking to Harry about successfully asking women out.

"I thought I would be able to do it this time!" Harry answered. He had now failed at his fourth attempt in asking Ensign Fiona Hillier out. Was it him or just a curse?

Tom looked over at Harry and saw his friend was still quite upset.

"Look at the upside of today Harry. At least your console didn't blow up this morning and you're not stuck with the Doctor the rest of the day."

Harry laughed.

"I suppose I have nothing to complain about in comparison to you."

"Thanks for reminding me Harry." Tom gritted his teeth.

The two officers were walking to the mess hole before heading to the holodeck.

"I wonder what form of food Neelix is serving today." Tom wondered aloud.

"I just hope for once this week there won't be any leola root in it." Harry said wishful.

As soon as Tom and Harry walked into the mess hole, a foul stench made their noses crinkle in disgust.

'What has Neelix concocted this time?' Tom thought.

Harry and Tom went up to the counter in front of the kitchen and called out to Neelix. A few moments later, Neelix emerged from the back of the steamy kitchen into view. He looked up and smiled when he saw Tom and Harry standing there.

"Gentlemen! Oh boy you're in for a treat today!" Neelix said cheerfully.

"What?" Harry uttered.

"Wait. Did you say treat?" Tom had a look of horror on his face.

Neelix quickly came and stood in front of the two officers.

"I'm putting a meal together ready for the Gratenians to come aboard later. They apparently have a very acquired taste." Neelix seemed to be beaming just a little too excitedly.

"Doesn't every alien we meet in the Delta Quadrant have an 'acquired' taste?" Tom sighed sarcastically.

"Well, in the meantime gentlemen I'd replicate something for lunch. This meal won't be ready to eat until tonight." Neelix hurried back into the kitchen.

Tom and Harry sighed and walked over to the replicator. They were about to order something when they heard Neelix curse in the kitchen and heard a crash. At that moment, another foul smell joined the stench that was already there. The two officers looked at each other; they knew it was time to leave.

"Well," Tom stated. "At least we have more time for the holodeck."

Just at that moment, Harry's com badge bleeped.

"Commander Chakotay to Ensign Kim."

Harry looked at Tom apologetically. He knew at that moment he wasn't going to be able to go to the holodeck.

"Kim here." Harry answered Chakotay.

"Harry, Be'lanna needs your help in engineering in re-routing the central circuit pathways for the con." Chakotay's voice hammered out the statement with no hiccup.

"Yes Sir. I'll head over to engineering right now." Harry ended the transmission and looked directly at Tom. "Sorry. Look, don't let this get in the way of your lunch break."

"Alright Harry, but you owe me." Tom smiled his mischievous smile.

Harry smiled and turned to head towards engineering. Tom started heading on his own towards the holodeck.

* * *

As soon as he had the doors open, he pelted towards the turbo lift.

"Sickbay." He panted.

Boy, was the Doctor ever going to be mad. He was 45 minutes late as it was and with the now long-term interruption to the com line and locating system he still wasn't sure on how the holodeck doors could get locked shut.

He'd have to check on what happened later. The turbo lift doors opened on the deck it had stopped on and he bolted through the door down the corridor.

When he reached sickbay and was through the doors, he skidded to a stop and knelt on his legs to catch his breath.

"And where the hell have you been? You're 50 minutes late for your shift and I hope you have a good explanation." The Doctors voice sounded very menacing.

"Look, Doc. I have a genuine explanation this time." Tom looked up at the Doctor with an innocent face.

"Whatever reason? You've just gained yourself an extra hour at the end of your shift." And with that, the Doctor marched into his office.

Tom had fumed for the last half hour. He was willing to bet that these ship wide problems were being caused by the stupid con. He wondered if being caught in the explosion would have been better than having such a bad day.

'At least I would be off duty and relaxing for the rest of the day.' He thought.

Tom got so lost in his thoughts he didn't hear the Doctor come up behind him.

"Lieutenant!" The Doctor shouted.

Tom jumped and dropped what he was doing. He turned around and lent against the work bench he'd been working on and looked straight at the Doctor.

"Hmm." Tom answered.

"If you were paying more attention Lieutenant, you would have heard me calling you for the last-minute. I need your assistance." The doctor quickly moved from the lab area to the sick bay. Tom followed.

The Doctor led him to the main bio bed. On it sat Naomi Wildman with her Mother standing next to her.

"Naomi has seem to have sprained her wrist. I'm leaving you in charge because I've just been called to the bridge for an injury." The Doctor turned and marched out of sick bay.

Tom looked back at Naomi and then down at her wrist.

"Well," He sighed, "What caused this?"

"Naomi was playing in our quarters when she tripped." Ensign Wildman answered.

"Oh," Tom said. "Well, I will see what I can do." He turned and grabbed a medical tricorder to see what exactly was causing the strain.

"Lieutenant Paris." Said Naomi.

"Hmm." Tom answered, paying more attention to Naomi's wrist.

"Is it true that the helm blew up this morning?" Tom looked up at her. He didn't like it when kids got inquisitive.

"Naomi!" Ensign Wildman eyed her warning look at Naomi.

"Oh. That's alright." Tom jumped to Naomi's rescue. "Yes, it is true Naomi." He talked with caution.

"Can you tell us what happened?" Naomi asked.

"Well, I suppose." He answered. "It all started with my first shift on the bridge this morning…"

* * *

Tom walked into the bridge with a spring in his step.

"Lieutenant." Commander Chakotay greeted.

"Commander." Tom answered.

Tom sat down at the helm and stared at the controls. He loved nothing else when it came to flying. He remembered when he had first seen a shuttle fly when he was a kid. He had been captivated by the sight.

Tom turned when he heard the Captain come through from her ready room.

"It seems like a quiet day today Chakotay." Captain Janeway's voice sounded chipper and happy.

"Quite Captain. And it seems Lieutenant Paris and Ensign Kim are on time today." He said, making conversation.

Tom turned around and looked at the Commander. He was late yesterday with Harry, by 3 minutes and unfortunately it got noticed.

Captain Janeway laughed. "Well. Let's hope it's not a too eventful day. The Gratenian Ambassador will be arriving at 18:00 hours so we've got to try to stay in shape."

"Let's just hope their food won't smell bad this time." Joked Chakotay.

Harry was up at the operations console when it bleeped. He frowned at the flight course it had just brought up. "Ah, Tom. Could you come and look at this for me?" He asked.

Tom turned and looked at Harry, shrugged and got up. He had only taken one step when the con made a funny noise and blew up. He jumped and landed 3-feet away from where the con used to be. He looked up with shock on his face.

"Lieutenant Paris! Are you alright?" The Captain quickly came to his side.

Tom stared for a moment. "Wa… um… ah. I'm alright Captain, but I don't have much to say for the… helm." He answered bewildered.

He turned and looked up at Harry, and got up. He brushed himself off. After being on Voyager for nearly 4 years, he still bewildered about the fact that so many strange things had happened with no explanation. This counted as one of them.

Tom heard Chakotay order repair crews from engineering. He slowly walked up to Harry, who had a look of shock on his face.

"Well, Harry." Tom said briskly.

Harry blankly pointed at the flight course plotted on his console. Tom just stared at it, poked a few buttons and more information came up. He frowned up at the blown up helm than at Harry.

As soon as he had finished with the flight course, he sighed, exasperated.

"Lieutenant Paris." Tom turned to face the Captain. "Report to sickbay."

"But I'm fine, Captain." Tom sounded a bit surprised.

"I know, Lieutenant, but just to make sure. Maybe stay in sickbay after for a shift. I don't think you'll be needed here for a while." Janeway had sympathy in her voice when she looked at the helm.

Tom sighed and turned to the turbolift…

* * *

Tom had just finished with his story when he finished with Naomi's wrist.

"There we go. As good as new." Tom smiled at Naomi and Ensign Wildman.

"Can you tell us how the Doctors holo emitters blew up?" Naomi was very curious.

Thankfully, Ensign Wildman stepped in before Tom could say anything.

"I think that enough stories for the day." She said. "Thanks Lieutenant Paris." She smiled at Tom while she helped Naomi down.

"Anytime. Just drop in for the next few days and I'll probably be here." Sighed Tom.

"Thankyou!" Naomi called as they both left.

Tom looked around him and realised he was alone. He checked the time and found out the he had 15 minutes left on his shift, still including his extra hour he had gained.

After 15 minutes had passed, the Doctor still hadn't returned, so he decided to leave. He left a note on a pad for the Doctor explaining his absence.

* * *

At 18:30 hours, Tom strolled into the mess hole with Harry ready for Neelix's 'exotic' Gratenian meal. The thought that they actually had to eat it was horrifying.

The Gratenians were much like humans, except for distinguished blonde hair, ridges on their foreheads (different from Klingons) and misty grey eyes with black pupils. "Just a typical sort of alien.' Tom thought.

Tom and Harry had stood around for a while when Neelix and a threatening looking Gratenian came up.

"Ah, Gentlemen." Neelix said. "This is Filo Garen. He has just asked me if there was anyone he could talk to about a certain type of medicine he was after. Since the com line is down and I can't contact the Doctor, I thought he could talk to you Tom."

"I'm after a drug, called anaprovaline." Filo demanded harshly.

Tom was a bit shock and confused on how this Gratenian and specifically heard about this medicine, seeing as it was mainly centred in the alpha quadrant, as far as he knew.

"Can I ask why?" Tom was very curious to why this alien wanted drugs.

"I don't have to state my reasons." Filo sounded impatient.

"Well. I'm really sorry to say that you're asking the wrong person." Tom informed. "If you're really after this type of medicine then I would ask the Doctor. But more importantly, ask the Captain. She would have to make sure you have a good reason for wanting anaprovaline, otherwise nada."

Filo Garen growled at Lieutenant Paris and walked away. All Tom did was give Neelix a strange look.

"Thankyou Tom. He had to get that into his head. He just wouldn't take my no as an answer." Neelix seemed very relieved.

When Neelix had walked away, Tom turned to Harry and sighed.

"I tell you what. That guy gave me creeps." Harry said.

"It's curious to know why he wanted anaprovaline." Tom wondered aloud.

Another half hour had passed until the Doctor walked in. He saw Tom and Harry and wandered up to them with a grin on his face.

"Someone's happy." Tom said while rolling his eyes.

"Ah, Mr Paris, Mr Kim. Glad to see you here." The Doctor sounded just like he had when he had first got his mobile emitter. In that case, he sounded over happy at this moment. "Mr Paris, because you didn't wait for me to return to sick bay when your shift ended, you will go there now and keep watch for an hour while I have some relaxation time here."

Tom opened his mouth to argue, but stopped when the Captain walked passed with the Gratenian ambassador. He didn't want to start a commotion.

"Fine Doc." Tome sighed. He was just fed up about the day.

He walked out of the mess hole and towards the turbo lift. He couldn't wait until the helm was going to be fixed.

When he walked into sick bay he heard strange noises coming from the lab.

"Hello?" He called out. There was no answer.

He grabbed a hypospray and quickly headed to the lab. When he arrived he saw Filo Garen going through all the medicines in the cupboard.

"What the hell are you doing!" Tom Demanded.

Filo didn't say anything but just got up grabbed Tom's head. As soon as he did, Tom faltered and stared up at him. The Gratenians were telepathic.

Eventually, Tom started losing conscious, and as soon as he had, Filo threw him to the floor and left sick bay.


	2. Chapter 2

His head hurt. That was his first thought.

Tom awoke and sat up, regretting it as soon as his head started to spin. He looked around and saw he was in darkened sick bay, on the floor in the lab. What had happened?

He slowly got up and took in his surroundings, trying to recollect what had happened. As the fog cleared in his head he suddenly remembered about the Gratenian and his need for anaprovaline.

Tom tapped on his com badge.

"Lieutenant Paris to security."

No answer.

"Lieutenant Paris to Commander Tuvok."

Still no answer.

"Lieutenant Paris to anybody?" He was requesting and not stating.

There was still no answer. He then suddenly remembered that the com line had been damaged probably due to the con. But that still didn't make sense, it should have been fixed by now.

The next best thing to do was probably turn the lights on.

"Computer, lights." He ordered.

The computer beeped but didn't comply at all. Tom frowned and tried again. Maybe everything was currently down.

He then decided he should leave sick bay. As soon as he left, the hairs on the back of his neck started to prick. Nothing felt right. The corridor was also dark, and there was no one about, not even a noise other than himself met his ears.

He started heading towards the turbolift, but when he reached it the doors wouldn't open.

'Ok, maybe the ship has properly broken down this time.' He thought. But it still didn't make sense. Why wasn't there anyone about?

He headed towards the Jeffrey tubes. They would most certainly work. He pulled off the outer panel and pulled himself inside. He started crawling towards the ladder at the far end.

When he reached the ladder he started to climb up to the bridge. Hopefully there he would receive some answers.

The Jeffrey tubes were heating up quickly, so he was glad when he finally reached the bridge. He pushed the outer panel off and crawled out. All Tom met was an empty bridge.

He was about to turn back when he heard voices coming from the briefing room. He headed towards the doors and listened with his ear to the door. Yes, he had heard a voice; Tuvok's voice.

He banged on the doors. When the doors opened he put his arms up very quickly. Commander Chakotay was holding up a phaser.

"Hey! It's only me!" Tom shouted in defence.

Chakotay put down his phaser and sighed in relief.

The room consisted of Captain Janeway, Commander Chakotay, Tuvok, B'Elanna, Harry and Seven.

"Tom!" B'Elanna shouted. She rushed to him and embraced him. "Where the hell have you been? We've been trying to find you for hours!"

"What?" Tom was very confused. "What happened? I mean, where's the crew? Why isn't anything working?"

"The Gratenians have taken the ship, Lieutenant. Everyone's hiding." Captain Janeway answered.

"In the meantime, where have you been Lieutenant?" Chakotay asked.

"Well, I had just left the banquet we were holding for the Gratenians. The Doctor had told me to go to sick bay for a shift. But when I arrived a Gratenian was there and he attacked me. I obviously fell unconscious because I just woke up there around 15 minutes ago." Toms answer was long, but it was the best he could give. "What happened to the Doctor?"

"His program went offline when the Gratenians decided to take the ship. Unfortunately, they've got hold of his mobile emitter." Seven of Nine's voice was decisive. "Right now we've got to find a way to take Voyager back."

As the conversation went on, Tom was still finding it hard to follow what had gone on. Apparently the Gratenian ambassador had pulled out a phaser of sorts and shot a crewmember. All of the other officials had immediately reacted and started to fire phaser's as well. Since then, Voyager had had a rough time.

"The best idea might be breaking off into groups. We should start collecting all we need to survive; we might be like this for some time." Harry suggested.

"Good idea Harry." Janeway answered. "Tom and Chakotay, you head to the mess hole and see if you can find Neelix. B'Elanna and Tuvok, you head to engineering. Harry and Seven, you stay here on the bridge and see if you can get any of the systems back online. I will go with BE'lanna and Tuvok. We'll rendezvous back here at 00:30 hours. Dismissed." And with that, everyone left.

* * *

Tom was holding a torch in one hand and a phaser in another, the same as Commander Chakotay. Ever since waking up in sick bay, he'd been suffering from a splitting headache.

"You alright Tom?" Chakotay asked.

"Yeah. Just got a headache." Tom answered.

"Well, when we manage to get the Doctor back, we might get him to take a look at you, since you were attacked." Chakotay's voice was reassuring.

The two officers got so caught up in conversation, none of them heard the approaching footsteps. It was when a phaser beam was shot over their heads that they ducked for cover.

Tom and Chakotay started firing their phasers at the oncoming source of the other phaser blasts. Another phaser blast, another and another.

Suddenly it stopped. Chakotay looked around the corner. All of a sudden, a phaser blast fired from nowhere and hit Chakotay. Chakotay slumped immediately, unmoving.

"Chakotay!" Tom yelled. He put his hand up to Chakotay's neck, trying to find a pulse. There wasn't one. Tom turned and ran down the corridor, trying to put as much distance between himself and the threatening footsteps. He turned a right, down towards the mess hole. Hopefully he would find Neelix there.

As he ran through the doors, he was brought to a sudden stop. There in front of him stood a Gratenian; Filo Garen.

"You." Tom stared, frozen to the spot.

"Hello Lieutenant. How's that head of yours?" Filo's cold voice almost made Tom shiver. "Well, I'll tell you now to not bother getting any… medical treatment for it."

Tom had a confusing look on his face. He just stared, starting to get nervous.

"You see, Lieutenant, none of this is real. Everything you see around you, everything that's happened; it's all in your head."

"What?" Tom answered.

"You remember the incident in sick bay?" Filo asked.

"You attacked me." Tom answered.

"Yes. That's right. But do you remember the last thought that crossed your mind?"

Tom stood there, staring blankly at Filo. Then, it suddenly hit him.

"You're telepathic." Tom hammered out. "What are doing?"

I'm reaching into your thoughts, finding all your flaws, your fears and your pros. So far I've enjoyed playing two of your fears in one story." Filo smiled.

"Well, what would they be then?" Tom wasn't liking what he was hearing, if anything, he was frightened.

Filo's grin grew wider. "Well, let's see. One- Voyager is taken over by a savage group of aliens. This has happened before, am I not right?"

"Yes." Tom answered. "But we got Voyager back."

"Only because you left Voyager on a shuttle to seek help before the attack and because the Doctor wasn't in possession of his mobile emitter. Together, with a crewman that died in the process you regained Voyager. You have a fear that it might happen again and with being so far from the Alpha Quadrant, you're afraid you might not make it home.

"Now, second- you are in fear of being responsible for an officer's death, especially your commanding officers. If I'm not correct, this is presumably to do with a shuttle accident that happened, on a planet named Caldik Prime."

Tom shuddered. This was getting out of hand. He looked down at the floor and then back up at Filo.

"You're wrong." Tom stated. Filo gave him a confused look. "I'm not afraid of not getting home. I have nothing left for me on earth. Voyager's crew is my family and Voyager is my home. And I'm going to do anything I can to stop you."

Tom ran out of the room. Behind him, he heard Filo call. "I'll find you Tom Paris. You can't escape your mind."

Tom ran down corridors. Voyager was like an unending maze. He didn't know how long he'd been running, it felt like ages.

As Tom turned around another corridor, he nearly collided with Harry.

"Tom!" Harry was startled.

"Harry." Tom answered back.

"I detected phaser weapons being fired. Are you and Chakotay alright?" Harry asked.

"Chakotay's dead Harry. But that doesn't matter." Tom was trying to get to the point quickly.

"What? Doesn't matter. Tom, Chakotay was… "Tom stopped Harry before he said anything else.

"None of this is real Harry. It's happening inside my head." Tom looked at Harry's face.

"Tom. Are you feeling alright?" Harry asked.

"Harry, we need to stop Filo Garen before he does any damage." Tom had started to pull Harry along.

"Wait! Tom, Stop!" Tom stopped pulling Harry and looked at him. "Maybe we should go to sick bay."

"What? No! Harry none of this is real. You're not even real. But I need you to help me!" Tom demanded.

"Tom, you're scaring me. Let's go to sick bay." Harry grabbed Tom's arm and started pulling him in the opposite direction.

Tom struggled free. "No." He said.

"As you wish." Harry said. Harry looked up to something behind Tom. Tom looked behind him. Tuvok was now there. Slowly Tom started backing down the corridor to the right. He turned and started running again.

Filo had done something mental to his head. He was now running through Voyager with no escape where ever he went. Nothing was scaring him more than what was happening.

He'd only been running for a few minutes when he bumped into Captain Janeway.

"Tom." She said, startled.

"Captain." Tom was hesitant to go near her. He didn't trust anyone.

"You should have listened Tom." She said. "I said I would find you." Tom looked in horror as the Captain's shape started to form into something else. All too soon, standing before him was Filo Garen.

Tom started running down yet another corridor. He had to get out, he had to work out what was going on. Suddenly he stopped, he'd heard something. He looked around. He couldn't see anyone. He could swear he heard the Doctors voice.

"Doc?" Tom called out.

"2cc's of …. now, ….. losing him, his vit…..signs are slowing." The Doctors voice was saying.

Tom suddenly felt exhausted. He collapsed where he was standing and lapsed into unconsciousness.

* * *

When Tom awoke, his headache had gotten worse. Slowly he pulled himself up to a sitting position. He leaned his head against the bulk head, closing his eyes.

When he opened him, Filo was standing before him.

"You're dying Tom. Accept it." He stated.

"No. You did this." Tom said.

"You brought this upon yourself." Filo stated.

Tom pulled himself up to a standing place. When he was standing, he nearly doubled over in pain. His chest hurt. Why did his chest hurt?

"They nearly lost you. But they brought you back. Whatever you feel on the outside world you feel in your head, Tom. In the end they used the old-fashioned method, I believe, of bringing you back. Mouth to mouth resuscitation. Do you know, that if administered properly, it can crack several ribs?" Filo's voice was menacing.

"You know that because you got it from my head." Said Tom, still wincing in pain. "They should have fixed my ribs already though."

"Yes. You also know that even after the ribs are fixed, you're still left with pain for a while." Filo just couldn't keep his mouth shut. "You're dying Tom. Just accept it."

Filo pointed to the screen behind Tom. Tom turned and looked at it. Tom saw a picture of himself, lying in the main bio-bed in sick bay. He had a stimulator device on his forehead. He was unconscious. Beside the feed, there was a screen with his vital signs showing. They were dangerously low.

He could hear the Doctor's voice speaking.

"Mr Paris's brain activity is slowly fading. I can't do much more. He's dying Captain."

"Doc..." Tom said.

"Do what you can Doctor." He heard the Captain say.

"What's happening?" Tom closed his eyes tight and put his hand up to his forehead. He turned towards Filo and glared at him. "Tell me how to stop this." He demanded.

"I can't tell you. Only you can work that out." Filo smiled. Tom knew he wasn't going to tell him how to get out. "But I can tell you this, to get rid of me you have to journey to the centre of your mind."

Tom looked back at the feed of him on the screen. He turned back around and discovered Filo had disappeared. Tom sat down. He had to think this through. If Voyager was his mind, then he had to find a way to disable Voyager. Engineering; engineering was in the middle of ship. If you eject the warp core, and shut down the environmental systems, most of Voyager would shut down. That would hopefully get rid of Filo Garen.

Tom got up and started running to engineering. He crawled through Jeffrey tubes and ran down more corridors until he reached engineering. Just as he ran through the doors, he stopped. The entire engineering crew was there, going about business like a normal day on Voyager.

He walked in cautiously towards the warp core. He looked around and started setting sequences on the panel.

"Tom. What are you doing?" B'Elanna made him jump.

Tom just looked at her, and continued what he was doing. He wasn't going to trust anyone. Filo had completely mucked his head up.

"Don't do that, we're running diagnostics." B'Elanna pushed his hands away and started undoing his sequencing.

Tom grabbed her wrists and looked at her. "Stop this Filo." He demanded.

"Tom, you're hurting me."B'Elanna was struggling free from his hands, but he held them tighter.

"What's going on here?" Tom turned to see that Chakotay had walked in.

Tom let go of B'Elanna's wrists, turned and grabbed a warp coil plasma tool. "Stay back!" He said.

Chakotay came up closer with his arms raised. "Tom, put it down." He said.

Tom stood holding out his weapon. "Filo!" He shouted. "Where are you?" He looked back at the engineering crew; they had formed a crowd. Their faces had gone blank and were staring at him. Chakotay and B'Elanna were standing at the front.

"Tom, Tom, Tom. What did I say? You can't stop this. You're dying." Filo's voice filled engineering, with no source. "You think you can stop me by ejecting the warp core? Now, now, now. Didn't you're Father always tell you that the warp core was the essential part of being able to travel the galaxy. Didn't you're time in Starfleet teach you that with a warp core, you can travel the speed of light."

Tom was trying to find the source of Filo's voice when the Engineering crew disappeared. Immediately after they had disappeared, the lights started flickering on and off until they had completely turned off. Tom ran out of engineering. Those last words of Filo had helped him work it out. If Voyager was his mind, then to destroy the imprint of Filo, he had to get to the centre of his mind. 'Without a warp core, you can't travel the galaxy.' Without a ship with a warp core, you can't fly it. Tom was the pilot of a star ship. When it came to flying, he loved nothing more. The helm was the centre of his mind.

He ran down more corridors until he reached the Jeffrey tubes. He climbed in and started crawling towards the end of the section. Tom suddenly stopped when he smelt something. He felt sick as soon as he realised that what he was smelling was plasma smoke. He continued crawling, coughing at the same time. His body soon grew weak. He collapsed, unable to continue.


	3. Chapter 3

Tom closed his eyes for a moment. He couldn't go any further. He'd already inhaled some plasma smoke, and he was coughing and spluttering. In his daze, he heard the Doctor's voice again.

"I've done all I can Captain. If Lieutenant Paris is to live, it will be a miracle."

"Don't feel bad Doctor, it's not your fault." The Captain answered.

Tom opened his eyes when he'd heard the conversation. He wasn't ready to die, not yet. With all his remaining energy, he pulled himself back up into a crawling position. While coughing and nearly suffocating, he made his way to the bridge.

When he crawled out of the Jeffrey's tube, he collapsed onto his knees struggling for a breath. After he had composed himself, he looked up to the helm and tried to hide his disappointment. It was broken in his mind as well as being broken in the real world. He got up and started clumsily making his way towards it. He still had to find a way to defeat Filo Garen through it. When he'd reached it, he heard a voice speak behind him.

"Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in." Tom wasn't surprised that it was Filo Garen. "I do say, I've enjoyed familiarizing myself with some of earth's phrases. That one is a particular favourite of mine." Tom once again saw that menacing smile, this time sitting in the Captain's chair.

Tom turned back to the helm, attempting to ignore him, but Filo wouldn't leave him alone.

"Why can't you just accept that you're dying, Paris?" Filo spat.

"I'm not ready to die." Tom counteracted, deciding to try to put the Filo imprint off his guard.

"I don't understand Tom. From what I can gather, several years ago you were willing yourself to die. Why the sudden change of mind?" Filo inquired.

"I think you know the answer to that." Tom didn't want to go into details with someone who was in his head and had experienced all his memories. Filo came up behind him and knelt to whisper in his ear.

"I know you're pain, Tom. I know all you're little secrets. You can't hide from me."

"Ever since I woke up, all I've tried to do is hide from you. If you want me dead so badly, why not kill me now?" The thought suddenly occurred to Tom, why wasn't he dead already?

"If I had killed you, I wouldn't have had so much fun." Filo had walked back over to the Captain's seat. "I will say, this chair is comfortable."

Tom turned around and faced Filo. "This is finished Filo."

"Well, it's been fun. But I suppose that it's time to die." Filo almost looked hysterical. In fact, Tom was sure he had just seen some fear on the Gratenian's face.

"Time to die? For you, but not me." Tom's answer came with no hiccup. Filo's face fell downcast.

"You can't escape me Tom." Filo almost looked like a kid who just lost a dog. There was definitely fear in his expression.

"Scared, Filo?" Tom inquired. Tom grabbed an engineering tool that was next to the helm, and he threw it into the broken screen and circuitry. Tom jumped out the way immediately as the explosion came. But Filo was too late.

Tom looked up and saw that Filo was gone. Immediately his mind felt a release. He felt himself being pulled into a dark abyss, back to reality.

* * *

He couldn't hear anything but a beeping. It sounded familiar, but he couldn't grasp what the origin was. He started hearing muffled voices.

"His bio signs are growing stronger. I don't understand, one minute ago he was dying, now it's like he's being raised from the dead." The voice seemed familiar.

All too soon, he could feel something soft under him and something warm draped over him. It suddenly hit him that what he was hearing was a tricorder and the voice that spoke was the Doctor's.

His eyes fluttered open to see the looming figure of the EMH towering over him holding a tricorder. On the other side of him stood Captain Janeway with Commander Chakotay. He was on the main bio bed in sick bay.

"Tom?" Janeway gazed at his face.

"Hello real world." Was all Tom could say. The Doctor, the Captain and Chakotay all had a strange looks on their faces. They were obviously confused.

"Lieutenant, would you mind explaining why you were dying and all of a sudden now alive?" Janeway asked, but more like ordered. She had a good idea that Tom knew why.

"It will all be in the report Captain." Tom answered.

* * *

Tom sat in the mess hole, with his eyes shut.

"You'd think you would be more awake seeing you've been in a coma all day." Harry joked. Tom was sitting with Harry and B'Elanna. From what they'd told him, he'd been found unconscious in sick bay by the Doctor and had been in a coma overnight and into that day. The Gratenians had been ordered to leave the ship as soon as Captain Janeway found out that all they were interested in from them was their technology and medicine, and from the attack that had left him comatose. B'Elanna and Harry were two of the many that had suffered from the news that he was going to die. They were still amazed that he was sitting with them, alive.

"You'd think." Tom answered. He opened his eyes and looked at Harry, then up at B'Elanna who was sitting next to him. She had her arms around him.

"Well, I'd better be getting back to engineering." B'Elanna said.

"I'd better get to the bridge as well." Harry looked down at Tom after he'd got up. "Take it easy."

"I don't intend going anywhere but my quarters for the next 7 hours." Tom answered, he was very tired. His head hurt like hell.

"I'll see ya later, buddy." Harry said.

B'Elanna gave him one last final hug and kiss on the lips. "I hope we're still on for lunch tomorrow." She said.

"You bet." He answered. She smiled at him, then left.

After they had gone, he closed his eyes for one minute before he'd get up to leave. Just as he opened them, Naomi Wildman hopped into the seat opposite him.

"Lieutenant Paris?" She asked.

He sighed. "Naomi, how would you like to call me Tom?" the thought of having her call him by his rank and last name for the rest of their long voyage home made his headache worse.

"Ok." She answered. "Tom, can you tell me how the Doctor's holo emitters blew up.

Tom smiled when he remembered her trip to sick bay. He was glad she hadn't asked him about his ordeal, writing it down for the Captain and Commander had been torture enough. But he had thought too soon.

"Then, can you tell me why you were unconscious in sickbay?" She asked.

Tom groaned inwardly. He didn't like it when kids got inquisitive.

* * *

**Thankyou for reading my first story. It's been a fun experience watching how many have been reading it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek Voyager or Deep Space Nine. And I definitely don't own any of the characters involved.**


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